February 15, 2000. Copyright 2000. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

John McCain profile

LONDON, February 15, Graphic News: WEALTH were measured by a manÕs character, Senator John McCain would have no problem funding his campaign: he has bags of it. Tough-talking, hot-tempered yet charming and sociable, the maverick McCain has as many admirers among Democrats as enemies in his own Republican camp. 

The son and grandson of navy admirals, the young Lieutenant Commander McCain was famously shot down during a bombing raid over Hanoi and held prisoner for five and a half years. He refused early release Ð offered by the North Vietnamese as a propaganda move Ð and later accepted the Purple Heart, promotion to captain and wide public esteem. Other candidates can only dream of such a CV. 

A congressman for Arizona since 1982, he now crusades for a better-funded military. More surprisingly for a Republican, he is against tax cuts for the rich Ð ÒIÕm not sure that millionaires and billionaires need tax cutsÓ Ð arguing that the money be spent on education, social security and tax breaks for middle-earners. 

He is also a fierce opponent of the tobacco lobby. McCain calls his battle-bus the Straight Talk Express and few would argue with that. He accuses President Clinton of Òphoto-op foreign policy,Ó lambasts the campaign finance system as one Òin which both parties compete to stay in office by selling the country to the highest bidder,Ó and calls the U.S. government Òa spectacle of self-interest.Ó 

He has been called many things in return, including a Òmean-spirited, hypocritical political-climberÓ by home-state newspaper, The Phoenix New Times. The Boston Globe appeared to put the skids under him in early January by accusing him of using a Senate commission position to do a favour for a business friend. Two weeks later, the same liberal-leaning paper, the biggest selling Sunday in the important New Hampshire primary state, endorsed this reformer as its candidate.

Increasingly popular with women and the young, he might just carry the crucial primaries, polls suggest. On the other hand, his cross-party appeal may work against him in a deeply adversarial two-party system.

Source: Lis Ribbans